EJ Obiena continuing his dominant year in pole vaulting! The best vaulter in Asia bagged a silver medal in the Monaco leg of the Wanda Diamond League this weekend. Obiena cleared 5.82 meters to extend his streak of podium finishes this season. USA's Christopher Nilsen took home top honors after tallying 5.92 meters.
This comes just days after Obiena soared to second place of the men's World Pole Vault rankings overtaking Nilsen. Prior to these, Obiena has already qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. He also cracked pole vaults' elite six-meter club and dominated the Asian Athletics Championships in a record-breaking fashion.
Let's go all out on this story with the man himself, EJ Obiena joining us via Zoom all the way from Formia, Italy.
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This comes just days after Obiena soared to second place of the men's World Pole Vault rankings overtaking Nilsen. Prior to these, Obiena has already qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. He also cracked pole vaults' elite six-meter club and dominated the Asian Athletics Championships in a record-breaking fashion.
Let's go all out on this story with the man himself, EJ Obiena joining us via Zoom all the way from Formia, Italy.
Visit our website for more #NewsYouCanTrust: https://www.cnnphilippines.com/
Follow our social media pages:
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CNNPhilippines
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cnnphilippines/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/cnnphilippines
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NewsTranscript
00:00 EJ Obiena continuing his dominant year in pole vaulting. The best pole vaulter in Asia bagged a
00:06 silver in the Monaco leg of the Wanda Diamond League this weekend. Obiena cleared 5.82 meters
00:12 to extend his streak of podium finishes this season. USA's Christopher Nielsen took home
00:17 top honors after tallying 5.92 meters. This comes just days after Obiena soared to second place of
00:25 the men's world pole vault rankings overtaking Nielsen. Prior to these Obiena has already
00:32 qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. He also cracked pole vault's elite
00:37 six-meter club and dominated the Asian Athletics Championships in a record-breaking fashion.
00:44 What's one thing EJ can't do? You have to ask him. Going all out again on this story is the
00:49 man himself joining us for how many times? I can't remember. The nth time EJ Obiena joining
00:55 us via zoom all the way from Berlin, Germany. Brother good evening welcome back to the show.
01:01 Thank you sir Andre. How can I live that introduction? You have to. Just kidding.
01:08 It's difficult. Brother you just have to continue. I told you in my comment in your post.
01:13 I hope Mondo doesn't understand. Be careful Mondo Duplantis because EJ Obiena is coming. Brother
01:20 you said in that post. That was a great post by the way. So Instagram the skinny kid from Tondo
01:28 is now the world's number two pole vaulter. Here's your post on the screens. Tell us after all you've
01:35 been through the highs, the lows, the drama, the saga, you know that. Doubting if you want to go back
01:44 for Paris, qualify for Paris after that state in Tokyo. How sweet was that milestone overtaking
01:50 Nielsen and now just behind Armando Duplantis? I mean it's tough. It's hard to even imagine this.
02:03 If I'm going to look back like a year or two years before. I think it's crazy. If someone told me
02:10 that this is actually going to happen. I probably would say you know you're full of it.
02:16 It's a new career high and I think it's probably going to be hard to be world number one because
02:21 you know the rankings are the rankings. It states how consistent you are in the higher level of
02:27 meets and I'm just happy and proud that I'm able to be world number two at least once in my life.
02:35 You know there's probably a few people that could say that. What makes it a little bit more
02:41 special is because I mean Armando Duplantis is Armando Duplantis. It's not easy to overtake him.
02:47 That's for sure. So even though he understands that he knows how difficult it is to achieve
02:52 what he has achieved. So respect. He's the GOAT of their region. You're the GOAT here in Asia.
02:59 So I think you can do it. You said it yourself, to be number two in the world in your sport.
03:03 For every athlete out there, they want to be one of the best and you're number two in the world.
03:11 After getting the second spot to world rankings, as I mentioned earlier in the news item,
03:15 you did face Christopher Nielsen in Monaco. You were the previous number two.
03:22 Did you have a talk with him? Was it something that Nielsen, you know,
03:29 Christopher Nielsen, I'm sure you're all friends but was he like, "Okay,
03:32 you overtake me in the rankings. I'm going to take the gold in this meet."
03:38 I mean, he probably had a mindset going in, but it's the same. I tried to go for the win in
03:44 Monaco. I'm not giving excuses or not, but I was tired. Monaco was the fifth meet of the three
03:53 weeks. After traveling through Asia and back, it wasn't easy. I tried to bring the best that I
04:00 could. But I mean, he got the better of me. That's why I said after the game, "Well played and
04:05 congrats." I mean, he won a diamond league leg having Mondo in the field. That's tough.
04:10 I know how special that is and winning a diamond league leg, it's a feat.
04:16 Yeah, yeah. But at least you're still number two in the world. He's still number three.
04:21 EJ, World Athletics Championships is coming up on August 19th until the 27th in Budapest,
04:28 in Hungary. So that's less than a month away. Last year, you made history recording 5.94 meters
04:39 to become the first Filipino to win a medal in that tournament. That time,
04:44 you were also your personal best. Now, you're in the 6-meter elite club. How would you approach
04:52 this year's competition and what are you looking forward to the most in the upcoming World
04:57 Championships, EJ? I think it's going to be a bit of a preview for what's the year to come.
05:06 I think World Championship is where all the best of the best will be, for sure,
05:10 gunning and preparing for it. So for me, my mindset is just to compete at the best that I can.
05:16 It's as simple as that. There's not really much things that I believe I need to change. There's
05:21 not much things that I also need to kind of outdo or outperform. It's just as simple as go there and
05:28 do my best and compete at the highest level. And I think going into the World Championship,
05:36 I would want a medal, hopefully get out of it in a better position than I finished last year. So
05:41 that's going to be the most ideal outcome of it. But we're going to go out there and try to win.
05:46 You should go out there. If you're hiding a 6-meter, go out there. Go out there and do a 6.1.
05:51 Go out there and do everything. That's the World Championships. Brother, regards to your girlfriend,
05:55 Caroline. I haven't met her, but I know you're there. Regards to her. Thank you again for your
05:58 time. Sorry, I wish we could have a longer time, but we'll talk again. Okay, for sure.
06:04 Thank you, brother. Take care. Congratulations again. That was EJ Olliena, Asia's best pole
06:12 vaulter. Now, world number two, pole vaulter EJ Olliena.